Laura
1944 Directed by Otto Preminger
Synopsis
The story of a love that became the most fearful thing that ever happened to a woman!
A police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he's investigating.
Cast
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I don't use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom.
-Waldo LydeckerThere's so many films that ended up truly great out of sheer luck, accidents and circumstance. Laura is no different. Otto Preminger struggled in every aspect to have this film made the way he wanted, because there was always someone or something working against him. After fighting to get the cast he wanted however, he was denied the right to direct the film and relegated to producing it.
Rouben Mamoulian was given the directing gig, but when the first dailies came in the studio was less then impressed. Much to Preminger's delight he was given the go ahead to fire Mamoulian and take over…
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Laura is a flawed noir masterpiece.
Preminger's movie certainly have quite a few aces up its sleeve, and yet there's so much more to desire. Had they only fleshed out the story a bit more, digging a little deeper on several important aspects, this could have left the same impression with me as it obviously does with so many others.
It's not fully able to give all suspects enough motive, screen time and investment to give it the kind of suspense there could have been for this kind of whodunnit. Nor is it able to afford Gene Tierney's character the same amount of valuable time to give her feelings the same weight as Dana Andrews', or to fully round off…
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«I shall never forget the weekend Laura died.»
This is a piece of classic film noir that I've postponed far too long. One knows from the first shot that it will have to be intriguing, when the voice-over introduces the film with the above mentioned line. Good photography is no rare commodity in noir pictures, but it's great here - Joseph LaShelle won an Academy Award for it. Credits also go out to the script writers, especially those responsible for dialogue. One of the first lines Waldo Lydecker says in the film, when asked about his cynicism, is «I should be sincerely sorry to see my neighbor's children devoured by wolves.» And he has many more like it up his…
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That dialogue! That girl! Those shadows! Everything else!
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Just OK. Mostly I couldn't get over how freaking gorgeous Gene Tierney was!
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ah, waldo lydecker, fuiste bello y terrible y fugaz y dios te dio las mejores frases que han sido dadas a cualquier personaje:
–In my case, self-absorption is completely justified... I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention!
–McPherson, if you know anything about faces, look at mine... How singularly innocent I look this morning.
–I don’t use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom.y otras muchas, y luego, porque nadie como tú debe estar vivo, te mandó matar.
:o(
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de todos mis cielos falsos favoritos, mi cielo favorito es el de manhattan en laura:
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para la interminable colección de momentos en que un personaje comprende que…
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Just OK. Mostly I couldn't get over how freaking gorgeous Gene Tierney was!
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I know this is supposed to be a classic both of film and film noir, but I found it extremely standard. Nothing really intriguing or exciting. The end was tense and it was well directed but the only character who was interesting in any way was Waldo. Oh well. Different strokes for different folks.
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Laura (1944)
8/10
A nice little mystery played to the noir seeking audience with a femme fatale that works half of the movie and a detective that his only fault is falling in love with a dead woman. There are more interesting noirs out there, which is not to say that this one isn't, but I must say that I was kept well informed on the twists (I could suspect some) and the way that it throws clues around for them to be useless later is interesting in terms of how non-narrative the whole thing would be. The acting is certainly great, from all the performers, but I must say that at the end of the day this film didn't impress me beyond its good facture and overall good scriptwriting, maybe it was the music, but hey, my TV sucks at sound, so what can you do?
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Δέκα λεπτά πριν το τέλος και ακόμα δεν μπορούσα να βρω τον δολοφόνο μιας ταινίας που γυρίστηκε το 1944. Κουκλάρα η Dana Andrews.
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A slick, stylized movie. Lydecker savors every syllable. The smooth pacing and beautiful cinematography erase the ridiculousness of the plot.
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A great film noir! Top notch cast and an incredible musical theme. This movie will cast its spell on you!
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Moody, melodramatic film noir. Great ending.
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this film opens like the average whodunnit picture but suddenly becomes a tale of obsession.
i did not go crazy for most of the directing or writing choices but i still found them appealing enough.
perhaps, in terms of writing, the best thing about the movie is how well constructed all the characters are; they all are as three-dimensional as they are the embodiment of the usual film noir themes.
perhaps the directing was not bold enough but it did have some outstanding shots, scenes and sequences, specially those where framing and lighting were used to create more tension than needed.
a slow boiling thriller with a very satisfying ending. -
ah, waldo lydecker, fuiste bello y terrible y fugaz y dios te dio las mejores frases que han sido dadas a cualquier personaje:
–In my case, self-absorption is completely justified... I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention!
–McPherson, if you know anything about faces, look at mine... How singularly innocent I look this morning.
–I don’t use a pen. I write with a goose quill dipped in venom.y otras muchas, y luego, porque nadie como tú debe estar vivo, te mandó matar.
:o(
--
de todos mis cielos falsos favoritos, mi cielo favorito es el de manhattan en laura:
--
para la interminable colección de momentos en que un personaje comprende que…